Radon Concentrations in Drinking Water in Beijing City, China and Contribution to Radiation Dose

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Yun-Yun Wu²  Yong-Zhong Ma¹  Hong-Xing Cui²  Jian-Xiang Liu²  Ya-Ru Sun¹  Bing Shang²  Xu Su² 

[1] Institute for Radiological Protection, Beijing Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100013, China; E-Mails:;Key Laboratory of Radiological Protection and Nuclear Emergency, National Institute for Radiological Protection, Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100088, China; E-Mails:

关键词: radon;    drinking water;    well water;    public water;    radiation dose;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijerph111111121

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

²²²Rn concentrations in drinking water samples from Beijing City, China, were determined based on a simple method for the continuous monitoring of radon using a radon-in-air monitor coupled to an air-water exchanger. A total of 89 water samples were sampled and analyzed for their ²²²Rn content. The observed radon levels ranged from detection limit up to 49 Bq/L. The calculated arithmetic and geometric means of radon concentrations in all measured samples were equal to 5.87 and 4.63 Bq/L, respectively. The average annual effective dose from ingestion of radon in drinking water was 2.78 μSv, and that of inhalation of water-borne radon was 28.5 μSv. It is concluded that it is not the ingestion of waterborne radon, but inhalation of the radon escaping from water that is a substantial part of the radiological hazard. Radon in water is a big concern for public health, especially for consumers who directly use well water with very high radon concentration.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.